Why he left

Rob Schmutz, the Kansas United Methodist pastor who turned in his credentials to the bishop after his conference voted to petition General Conference to change the denomination’s stance regarding same-sex sex, explained his decision on his Facebook page.

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2 thoughts on “Why he left”

You wonder about people feeling trapped because they made the extravagant gesture and then have to follow through with it. It is one thing for someone to leave because General Conference actually passed a change or, if the local option actually went through (I do not believe either is going to happen) that their annual conference made a change. Unfortunately, I expect many people to feel forced to leave. I also do not trust that all episcopal leaders will treat people who oppose revisions based on their conscience with as much grace as some have shown to those who defy the Discipline based on their “conscience.” But, here, none of that has happened.

You hope that Rev. Schmutz would think again about his action if for no other reasons than the effects on his family and his congregation.

Sometimes a man MUST ACT on his convictions in a way which defies conventional thinking. Perhaps he will suffer for it. But when given the chance to recant, he refuses. This is contrary to our (compromised) modern reason, in which all things are measured by their practicable and expedient application. If all men acted this way, there would be nothing affirmed, nothing revealed, nothing tested. Perhaps we are moving toward a crescendo of acts, a denouement in the life of the church.

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Words from Wesley

"This is the rule whereby the inhabitants of a better world judge of good and evil. Whatever raises the mind to God is good; and the same as it does this. Whatever draws the heart from its centre is evil; and more or less so, as it has more or less of this effect.'"